Faster Than a Snap
by Irhaboggles
Summary: In the last minute before death, fate brings the surviving Superfriends together one last time for a final farewell, then faster than a snap, everything is gone.


Faster than a snap, the entire world changed. For one second, it looked as if the anti-matter wave had stopped. The sky went from red to black and all of Earth One collectively released its breath. But then only a second later, the nightmarish red returned to the sky and ripped away their hopes once more. Faster than a snap, that blood red tide signaling the Crisis returned to envelope the final Earth and devour it whole.

"It's over. They failed," Lena's words and tone were cold and hard, almost merciless, but the despair on her face gave her away. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes as she stared up at the dark crimson wave of anti-matter that would soon engulf their entire planet, the very last Earth in the multiverse. All around her, citizens from every other Earth across every other universe looked just as broken. After all of their very best efforts, it still proved too be too much of a challenge for them to overcome. Now they were all going to die. They could do nothing but watch…

Lena was torn away from her broken staring when she felt a hand slip into hers. She looked over to see Alex, whose eyes were full of tears as well. She gave Lena a truly wounded, apologetic look. For just a split second, an old anger flared up in Lena's chest, but faster than it had come, it went away again. As mad as Lena was at Alex, and everyone else, she knew that the time for old grudges was over. Instead, she only gave Alex a similarly wounded and apologetic expression before squeezing her hand just as tightly in return, and Alex managed a pained smile in gratitude.

Lena could also see Eliza and Kelly, clinging to Alex's other hand, with Kelly sobbing openly while Eliza tried helplessly to comfort her. James was also there, right behind Kelly, clinging to her just as tightly as she was clinging to Alex and Eliza. Blessedly, and somehow, they had all managed to survive the trip over to Earth One and then find each other again in the ensuing chaos as other lost citizens came flooding in after them.

But it wasn't just _them_. Suddenly, as if drawn together by fate, Lena began to see other old faces. Nia was suddenly shoving her way through the crowd. How she managed to find the others was a mystery, but what _wasn't _a mystery was how she was feeling at the moment. Nia, also weeping freely, reached out to Lena, and Lena, without any hesitation, reached back. It was then that Lena realized that Brainy wasn't with her.

"Where is-?!" she began, struggling to be heard over all the chaos around them, all the screaming and crying and rumbling.

"Space!" Nia sobbed back. Lena felt her heart sink. Oh. He was out there, trying to fight the anti-matter wave. And with the wave still coming…

The ground suddenly began to shake violently under their feet as the sky rumbled overhead, but everyone was packed so tightly together that no one fell over. There wasn't enough room, and the ground had yet to split open. It was shaking, but it hadn't broken… yet. Then even older faces made their way over through the desolation and pain. James was the first to see the next familiar face.

"Cat?! CAT!" he didn't dare let go of Kelly, even in the slightest, but as he surveyed the sea of humans, he managed to spot a painfully familiar face. One of her sons was clinging to her. The other was nowhere to be seen. But against all odds, Cat managed to hear James' cry.

"Olsen? OLSEN!" she shouted right back, then they locked eyes. For a split second, Cat looked absolutely devastated, as if having forgotten that James would be stuck in this nightmare too. She had lost her first son during the evacuation and it was only dumb luck that she still had her second. Now, seeing James, she almost felt as if she were losing another… But that devastation quickly turned into determination and she fought her way through the crowd to reach her old employee. James reached out to her and she grabbed his hand with all the anger and devotion of an old friend.

At the same time, Eliza saw another old face. She slapped Alex's arm to get her attention and when Alex saw, she cried out again.

"MAGGIE!" and sure enough, it was. Stumbling through the crowd, dazed and lost, the young cop was being beaten back and forth like a raft trying to survive a stormy sea. But the second Alex saw her, she became determined to become the other woman's anchor. Even if they had broken up and parted on miserable terms, just like with Lena, the time for old petty fights of the past was over.

"JAMES! HELP ME REACH MAGGIE!" Alex managed to shout as another jolt threw them off balance. It took James a second, but once he realized what Alex was asking of him, he wasted no time in agreeing. Alex quickly put Kelly's hand in Lena's, who held on at once without needing a command. Then Alex carefully climbed across Eliza, Kelly, Cat and James until she was as close to Maggie as she could get.

"MAGGIE SAWYER!" Alex thundered, and after several attempts, fate finally pushed Maggie close enough that she could hear Alex's cries.

"DANVERS?!" her eyes and mouth went wide and on reflex alone, she reached out to Alex. Alex was quick to reel her in and find her a safe spot in their dismal little lineup. After so much time apart, they were together once more, united this time against the threat of death.

Then next to come along was Samantha Arias, and Lena was the one to find her.

"There!" she shouted, pointing with her head because Alex and Nia were glued to her hands. Sam had somehow found something tall to stand on (perhaps a rock?) that brought her up over everyone else's heads, and Ruby was wrapped safely in her arms. Sam's higher spot would do nothing to help, but she had still chosen to climb it in order to keep Ruby safer. Even if the world was going to end, she would die protecting her child.

Once again, without even needing a command, the ever-growing chain of old friends worked almost perfectly as one cohesive whole. Nia made the daring move this time, removing her hand from Lena's and gesturing for the older woman to climb onto her shoulders. It seemed like an outrageous demand, but Lena understood at once what Nia was trying to do and wasted no time in obeying. Then once Lena's head had popped up from the throng of other panicked people, she began to wave her arms and call out to Sam. The second Sam saw her, seemingly floating above the crowd, her eyes and mouth went wide with horror and recognition.

"COME OVER!" Lena shouted, waving wildly for Sam to join her, but Sam shook her head and clutched Ruby closer to her chest. Understanding what the gesture meant, Lena looked down hopelessly at Nia. "She won't budge!"

"I got an idea!" Nia shouted back. "But you need to get off my shoulders!" then she carefully lowered Lena back to the ground. The second Lena's feet touched the ground again, while Alex was quick to grab her once more, Nia summoned up the last of her waning power to essentially build a bridge out of dream energy. It was weak, but it would last long enough for Sam to cross, and thankfully, she understood the message and obliged.

"Oh, Lena!" Sam sobbed into Lena's shoulder as soon as she reached the Luthor. It was the first time she'd cried since the Earth-38 evacs. Ruby was in tears too, embracing Lena before moving over to try to hug Alex, who looked just as heartbroken to see the girl again in such a dark time. Lena, meanwhile, hugged Sam back. It was the first kind, genuine human contact she'd received since Lex's death.

"Sam!" she also shed her first tears in many months as she allowed the warm presence of a friend whom she had almost forgotten she had to wash over her. Although a small part of her mind reflexively distrusted Sam at once, wondering if Sam had been in on Kara's secret too, that part of her mind fell silent barely half a second later. Instead, she simply reveled in the feeling of Sam's arms wrapped around her and her walls broke down.

Lena sobbed out so much pain, anger, anguish and grief into Sam's shoulder that even if they had reunited in totally peaceful times, Lena still wouldn't have known what to say first. Instead, all she could do was cry. The true weight of their doom finally sunk in and she was suddenly painfully aware of all the people surrounding her, brushing up against her, squeezing her, everyone seeking one last bit of comfort before they died.

_And to think! _The Luthor thought bitterly. _I've wanted for humanity to be united for so long and now I have it! But at what cost? And all my life, I feared I would forever be alone, yet here I am now, trapped in a sea of humans and being embraced by people who truly love me. How could I have not seen it sooner?! Why did it take an apocalypse for me to see what was standing right in front of me all along? _

She was suddenly aware of Ruby clinging to her shirt, and Alex's hand still firmly grasping her shoulder. She managed to turn her head around to look at them, almost unable to see them through the reddening sky and her own tear-filled eyes.

"Oh, Alex!" she managed to sob, twisting an arm to clutch Alex's hand once more.

"I'm so sorry!" Alex managed to shout back, but Lena only shook her head with another regretful, mournful sob. Ruby was somehow clinging both to Alex and Sam, which meant that her body was pressed against Lena's and Lena felt a wave of affection for the girl. She was only 14… Another regretful, mournful sob tore itself from Lena's throat and she was dimly aware of Sam nestling her head onto her shoulder.

Then Lena's gaze slid past Alex to Kelly. That poor sweet woman whom Lena had worked beside several times before yet still never bothered to truly get to know… She was still sobbing, but her grip never wavered even once. Then there was Eliza, whose knuckles were almost white from how hard she was hanging onto Alex, Kelly and Maggie. And Maggie was also clinging to Kelly. Even though they had only met less than half a minute ago, and even though they were both fully aware of the relationship that they shared via Alex, all of that human foolishness was gone and, in the face of death, they were truly united. It really was everything Lena had ever wanted to see from humanity, but not like this! And then there was James, Cat and her surviving son. He looked about Ruby's age. Another child dying. Another _child_! And to see James, the man she once loved and had then lost without ever properly reconciling with… Lena became so overwhelmed that she could only look the other way.

To her other side was Nia, embracing her even though they were almost strangers too. But Lena pulled her in closer anyway, regretting the fact that she never got to know Nia better. She remembered the girl most for her courageous coming out speech, both as a transwoman and an alien, but that was about it. What a wasted potential for friendship! And it would never happen now! And then Lena thought mournfully to Brainy, deeply regretting how little time they had spent together as well. Odd as Brainy was, he was still a brilliant mind and he had worked alongside Lena diligently and faithfully. Lena wished she had shown him more appreciation back when they were still lab partners… Lab partners!

Then Lena's mind flitted over to Eve, and Hope.

_I'm so sorry! Eve and Hope! _She managed to think, wondering painfully what might have happened to the poor young woman. The last Lena had seen of her, she was being arrested. Who knew where she was now? Not that it really mattered… But Lena already felt herself missing Eve, and wishing that Hope could've been with them now. It brought a sharp pain to Lena's chest to think about them dying alone, and possibly still in jail.

And another friend who very well may have been left behind was Andrea Rojas. Where was she? The last Lena had seen of her, she had been frantically trying to protect a man she called Russel, whom the rest of the world called Rip Roar. Where was she now? Had she made it over to Earth One? Had Russel? As bitter as Lena felt towards Andrea, just like her anger with the Superfriends, it had all vanished in the face of the anti-matter wave. Even if Lena still had negative feelings for them all, at a time like this, she wished only that if they had to suffer, that the suffering be painless. Andrea was another friend Lena wished that she could've made amends with, or at least had proper closure from.

And what about that other man that was always with Andrea? William Dey? Where was he? Lena knew even less about him than she did of Russel or Andrea, but Andrea had bragged about him to Lena once and Lena wondered where he was now. He would've been a reporter working with Kara. Did he know the secret? Had they been friends? Would they be missing one another right now? Or was William already gone? And what about Lena's more immediate family? What about Lillian? Where was she? Lena had no doubt that she would've been one of the last ones to board an escape ship and Lena found herself again regretting not coming to closure sooner… But Lena was not the only one worried about such things.

Nia was busy thinking about her father and sister, the one whom she never fully reconciled with. Some of the tears she shed were for them, silently begging for their forgiveness while forgiving them in return. She, like Lena, also had unresolved familial issues, but it was much too late for any of that now. And all around, the other members of the chain were also thinking about lost friends and family, and even lost enemies. Every head was full of old faces and regrets. Malefic, Mon-El, Winn, M'gann, Lyra, Vasquez, Colonel Lauren Haley, the Lanes, Maxwell Lord… All of them. Dead and gone. And no one down on Earth ever got a chance to say goodbye. Even scumbags like Ben Lockewood and Morgan Edge, and seemingly unstoppable entities like Leviathan… And what about prisoners of the DEO, like Psi? There was never a proper farewell for any of them. Had they been scared? Had they been alone? Had they even understood what was going on? No one would ever know now…

Then suddenly, the world began to disintegrate. The first part of the anti-matter wave had finally touched down and the world literally began to fall to pieces. People dissolved. Poof. Gone. Just vanishing into thin air. And the wave was merciless, seeming to move quickly and slowly at the same time. It consumed every last atom in its path, totally neutralizing everything. The eerie decrease in sound as more and more of the Earth was consumed sent a chill down everyone's spine. Hands were held even tighter than before.

"Get ready for it!" James managed to shout one last time, still clinging to Cat's hand. Her son was pressed up against her chest. They could all see the wave. It was seconds away. Heads bowed and hands tightened. Ruby was in Sam's arms again. Sam was still pressed against Lena. As was Nia. Alex, Maggie, Kelly and Eliza were all huddled up as well.

As Lena pressed up against Sam and Ruby, hand still intertwined with Nia and Alex's, one last name and face surged to the surface of her memory. Kara Danvers. Even though Lena had hung onto her bitterness towards Kara for the longest, with the wave literally only a few hundred feet away, all of that anger, hate and hurt vanished, leaving only longing and regret behind.

_I'm so sorry, Kara. I am so, so sorry… _the Luthor finally thought the apology she had wanted to give for months now, the last of her stubbornness and pride torn away in the face of total annihilation. But it was too little too late, and Lena knew that, and that was what made it all the more painful for her. She would never ever see Kara again. They would never laugh, talk or hug ever again. Lena didn't get to say goodbye. She didn't get to say sorry. Like a tragic and cliché love story, theirs was going to end in misery, with no closure whatsoever.

Was Kara even still alive? Or was she already dead? Or would she be following close behind? Lena found herself aching to know and she almost wished that she could see Supergirl come flying in to save the day one last time. But that wouldn't happen. Not anymore, and not ever again. And Lena never even got to confess how deeply she had cared for the Girl of Steel, even through all of their disagreements and fights.

Once again, a Luthor had been left broken by a Super and, once again, their story would not get a happy end. Lena wished desperately that Kara could've been there with them as they faced death together, but it wasn't to be. Lena had wanted Kara gone, and now she had her wish. But at what cost? So all Lena could do was keep her other friends near her body while she kept her most beloved near her heart. Then faster than a snap, everything was gone.

**AN: Well dang. Everyone's dead. What can I even say at this point?**

**Also, this is just a longer version of my last fic bc the last one didn't give much detail as to what everyone was thinking as they died. This was supposed to be more "movie-esque" and less descriptive. (Also somewhat inspired by marvelousbones' "Desolation tragedy" fic which covers this same event. Guess we both had the same idea after watching Crisis Part 3, LOL). And yes, the title is an "Avengers" reference because TBH, the antimatter wave is basically the Thanos Snap, except with a higher body count and an implication that it's faster than the snap (because of how quickly the worlds dissolved every time the wave hit one). **


End file.
